Don't club newspapers' websites with social media, OTT: Indian Newspaper Society

The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has urged the government to amend the new digital rules to exclude websites of newspapers and not club them with social media and OTT platforms in the regulatory mechanism.

Arguing that these websites are an extension of the newspapers, INS president L Adimoolam said these websites also follow similar editorial standards and scrutiny, as credibility is paramount. These websites follow stringent editing and fact-checking norms every day, he said.

In a letter to Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, Adimoolam said, "our newspaper digital websites follow the same guidelines. Hence, INS requests that publishers websites be exempted by the new digital news guidelines and follow the existing self-regulation norms followed by newspapers."

He said to follow the Journalistic Code of Conduct of the Press Council of India and there was no need for newspapers' websites to be subjected to any different regulatory norm.

The government had on February 25 notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 to regulate digital media, including news websites.

Adimoolam said the INS is demanding that the new rules be amended immediately to exempt websites of newspapers and periodicals registered under the Press and Registration of Books Act with the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI).

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"We would like to state publishers follow the highest journalistic standard and we request the government not club social media and OTT with news websites," he said.

Adimoolam said publishers' websites are an extension of newspapers and the news in these websites are generated from the same newsroom following similar editorial standards and scrutiny as credibility is paramount.

The content carried in newspaper websites undergoes the same editorial vetting as the news that is published in the print edition, he said.

"Digital news publishers, who are an extension of their print or TV ecosystems already have a strong self-regulation mechanism and are held accountable to a number of rules, code of ethics and various laws of the land," Adimoolam said.

The INS proposes that newspaper websites follow the self-regulation guidelines followed by the newspapers, as the website is an extension of the newspaper in all respects, except for the frequency of publication, he said.